The (Mis)Education of America
Evidence of a Broken System
The Department of Education will spend $107 billion in 2010, or about $900 for every U.S. household. It employs 4,100 workers and operates 169 different subsidy programs.
Federal intervention into the nation's schools has consumed a great deal of taxpayer money and created large bureaucracies to administer funding and regulations. However, it has produced little, if any, improvement in academic results. Increasingly, teachers find themselves at the bottom of an inflexible, bureaucratic pyramid with little opportunity or authority to exercise initiative.
The teacher unions want us to believe that as a nation we don't "invest" enough in education. The fact is, we are among the top spenders in the world, with very little to show for it. Total expenditure per pupil is nearly two-and-a-half times higher today than in 1970 after inflation. Student achievement toward the end of high school has been flat or has even declined slightly (in science).
The 2008 National Assessment of Educational Progress reinforces other studies showing that U.S. high schools are failing in teaching math skills to their students. Despite thirty years of effort, our high schools have failed to improve their students' math skills. In 1978, the average seventeen-year-old scored 300 on a 500-point scale. About fifteen years later, in 1992, the score was 306. And in 2008 again 306. Students who stopped at Algebra or Geometry all scored lower on the NAEP in 2008 than the students enrolled in the same courses in 1978. Reading scores have actually decreased several points from 284 points in 1978 to 281 points in 2008. So much progress for progress!
The picture is also grim when we step outside the United States and compare our high school students to students in other advanced, industrialized countries. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which started in 1995, measures the competency of fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders in mathematics and science in the major industrialized countries. In the most recent study our fourth grade students are slightly above the average. By eight grade we are in the bottom third. By the end of high school we are near the bottom. Our kids are performing relatively worse the more years of public schooling they go through!
According to the most recent study from the Program for International Student Assessment – Out of the 30 countries scored, the U.S. students fell to 25th place in math and 21st place in science.
The cost of higher education has also skyrocketed thanks to efforts by the Department of Education. Federal grants and loans for college and university students have contributed to soaring inflation in tuition costs. On average, tuition tends to increase about 8% per year - that means that the cost of college doubles every nine years. For a baby born today, this means that college costs will be more than three times current rates when the child goes to college. Prices have not fallen or stabilized once since 1977, regardless of economic climate.
Education has gone down the toilette as the cost of education has skyrocketed since the Department of Education was started.
In August, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said: "As a country we've dummied down standards. We've reduced them due to political pressure and, we've actually been lying to children and parents telling them they're ready when they're not."
He also argued the educational system in America has reached a crisis point that threatens the nation's long-term economic stability.
Federal intervention into the nation's schools has consumed a great deal of taxpayer money and created large bureaucracies to administer funding and regulations. However, it has produced little, if any, improvement in academic results. Increasingly, teachers find themselves at the bottom of an inflexible, bureaucratic pyramid with little opportunity or authority to exercise initiative.
The teacher unions want us to believe that as a nation we don't "invest" enough in education. The fact is, we are among the top spenders in the world, with very little to show for it. Total expenditure per pupil is nearly two-and-a-half times higher today than in 1970 after inflation. Student achievement toward the end of high school has been flat or has even declined slightly (in science).
The 2008 National Assessment of Educational Progress reinforces other studies showing that U.S. high schools are failing in teaching math skills to their students. Despite thirty years of effort, our high schools have failed to improve their students' math skills. In 1978, the average seventeen-year-old scored 300 on a 500-point scale. About fifteen years later, in 1992, the score was 306. And in 2008 again 306. Students who stopped at Algebra or Geometry all scored lower on the NAEP in 2008 than the students enrolled in the same courses in 1978. Reading scores have actually decreased several points from 284 points in 1978 to 281 points in 2008. So much progress for progress!
The picture is also grim when we step outside the United States and compare our high school students to students in other advanced, industrialized countries. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which started in 1995, measures the competency of fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders in mathematics and science in the major industrialized countries. In the most recent study our fourth grade students are slightly above the average. By eight grade we are in the bottom third. By the end of high school we are near the bottom. Our kids are performing relatively worse the more years of public schooling they go through!
According to the most recent study from the Program for International Student Assessment – Out of the 30 countries scored, the U.S. students fell to 25th place in math and 21st place in science.
The cost of higher education has also skyrocketed thanks to efforts by the Department of Education. Federal grants and loans for college and university students have contributed to soaring inflation in tuition costs. On average, tuition tends to increase about 8% per year - that means that the cost of college doubles every nine years. For a baby born today, this means that college costs will be more than three times current rates when the child goes to college. Prices have not fallen or stabilized once since 1977, regardless of economic climate.
Education has gone down the toilette as the cost of education has skyrocketed since the Department of Education was started.
In August, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said: "As a country we've dummied down standards. We've reduced them due to political pressure and, we've actually been lying to children and parents telling them they're ready when they're not."
He also argued the educational system in America has reached a crisis point that threatens the nation's long-term economic stability.
It's Time to Take Education Back From the Grips of Government
A proper education would be one that teaches children to make connections, to generalize, to understand the wider issues and principles involved in any topic. This is achieved by presenting material in a logical, conceptually proper order, with the necessary context, and with the proof that validates concept. This would be an education that teaches a child to think.
This is the opposite of what schools are doing today. They take students through history, literature, science, and other subjects on a casual, unthinking, drunken walk of conceptual-level material. Children memorize unassociated facts and figures. Children learn that no principles are absolute and every issue must be looked at separately. And of course, any opinion is equally as valid as any other. The number of educated, free-thinkers in our society is on the decline.
However, what has clearly been on the rise in recent decades is the use of America’s public schools for the purpose of engineering some social outcome deemed desirable by political leaders. In the words of historian Steve Davies, the aim of the modern schooling system is "...take intelligent, independent, inquisitive children and turn them into conforming dullards."
This is an unavoidable failing of government-run education. Political, business, and education leaders continue to talk about “reforming” the current public education system. They should, instead, be discussing how to replace it.
This is, in my opinion, one of the first areas that we need to get out from the grips of the federal government. Not only are our kids not mastering basic skills, they are being fed a liberal/progressive narrative during their years of schooling. Talk about an indoctrination of government-backed ideas!
I can't believe that kids are still being taught that the Great Depression was a market failure and that the New Deal saved us. Both of those misconceptions have now been proven incorrect beyond argument. Its absurd. What is worse is that this skewed view of history impacts the way people understand events like the financial crisis today. People enter the public discourse today armed with myths and fallacies that were debunked a century ago.
As Americans, we know it is morally wrong and dangerous for a government to control and dictate a country's faith-based religious beliefs. Is it not equally wrong and equally dangerous for a central government to control what our kids learn in school? It's not difficult to see that government regimes with goals that may be very different from our own promote the ideas they want promoted when education is centrally controlled.
In my opinion, one of the worst crimes of our day is the fact that a government can take your money by force to pay for schooling (I don't even want to say educating) and indoctrinate your children with information with which you categorically disagree.
Public schools aren't educating.
Remember just because we are speaking out against a government run school system doesn't mean we don't value education. We advocate a dynamic, independent system of schools competing to meet the needs of American children. For the same reasons socialism doesn't work for the economy, it fails when you try to implement a centrally-managed, one-size-fits-all, bureaucrat-run education system.
They are indoctrinating and schooling children to submit to a one-size-fits-all system. Education is a state, local, and private area.
Homeschools and private schools are the wave of the future; with far less money than we are spending now, we can prepare American kids with the skills they need to be successful.
This is the opposite of what schools are doing today. They take students through history, literature, science, and other subjects on a casual, unthinking, drunken walk of conceptual-level material. Children memorize unassociated facts and figures. Children learn that no principles are absolute and every issue must be looked at separately. And of course, any opinion is equally as valid as any other. The number of educated, free-thinkers in our society is on the decline.
However, what has clearly been on the rise in recent decades is the use of America’s public schools for the purpose of engineering some social outcome deemed desirable by political leaders. In the words of historian Steve Davies, the aim of the modern schooling system is "...take intelligent, independent, inquisitive children and turn them into conforming dullards."
This is an unavoidable failing of government-run education. Political, business, and education leaders continue to talk about “reforming” the current public education system. They should, instead, be discussing how to replace it.
This is, in my opinion, one of the first areas that we need to get out from the grips of the federal government. Not only are our kids not mastering basic skills, they are being fed a liberal/progressive narrative during their years of schooling. Talk about an indoctrination of government-backed ideas!
I can't believe that kids are still being taught that the Great Depression was a market failure and that the New Deal saved us. Both of those misconceptions have now been proven incorrect beyond argument. Its absurd. What is worse is that this skewed view of history impacts the way people understand events like the financial crisis today. People enter the public discourse today armed with myths and fallacies that were debunked a century ago.
As Americans, we know it is morally wrong and dangerous for a government to control and dictate a country's faith-based religious beliefs. Is it not equally wrong and equally dangerous for a central government to control what our kids learn in school? It's not difficult to see that government regimes with goals that may be very different from our own promote the ideas they want promoted when education is centrally controlled.
In my opinion, one of the worst crimes of our day is the fact that a government can take your money by force to pay for schooling (I don't even want to say educating) and indoctrinate your children with information with which you categorically disagree.
Public schools aren't educating.
Remember just because we are speaking out against a government run school system doesn't mean we don't value education. We advocate a dynamic, independent system of schools competing to meet the needs of American children. For the same reasons socialism doesn't work for the economy, it fails when you try to implement a centrally-managed, one-size-fits-all, bureaucrat-run education system.
They are indoctrinating and schooling children to submit to a one-size-fits-all system. Education is a state, local, and private area.
Homeschools and private schools are the wave of the future; with far less money than we are spending now, we can prepare American kids with the skills they need to be successful.
The Success of State Education
The information contained in this article was adapted from a lecture I attended this summer by historian Steve Davies. I wish I could find a transcript or video of this lecture because it is excellent. For now, my interpretation will have to suffice.
State education is not a failure, but rather, a great success. I must start by making sure we are clear on terms. By “State education” I am talking about compulsory education mandated and administered by the government (e.g. the public school system in the US). By “success”, I refer to the success that State education has achieved in relation to the purpose and function of the system itself – which ironically is not education.
State education is relatively new to human history. The Prussians were the original advocates of State education and the founders were very clear on what they thought about the purpose of State education. After their embarrassing defeat to Napoleon in 1806, the Prussian elite decided to setup a “model national education system”. They wanted a system that produced “loyal, public spirited citizens” and groomed “obedient, disciplined soldiers”.
With these objectives in mind, the Prussian elite develop the first State education system (what today we consider public education) with the thought that the system should be compulsory, uniform, organized by age groups, and defined by structured time periods, structured desks, set text books and authorized curriculum. The founders of the modern system of education were very explicit about their intentions. They wanted to teach students to follow the rules of institutions and comply with structure. This sounds an awful lot like what we are used to today, but these were very new ideas at the time and vastly different from how education was previously provided.
The ruling elites wanted to groom obedient soldiers. No longer was education used as a means for drawing out the knowledge and potential of individual students. Instead, children were formally manipulated; they were schooled collectively. The structured environment helped achieve this objective. Students were taught to submit, obey, not question authority, and take orders. This was the first time children started wearing uniforms to school. This was the first time students started reciting a national pledge of allegiance in school. This was the first time students were required to attend a school organized by age – so that they would be in the class room with their future brothers in combat.
It should be noted that the elites thought of this system as a way to shape and mold society. The Prussian elites didn’t actually send their own children to the mass education system. They wanted to indoctrinate certain “habits of mind” in the general population. Curriculum and text books were standardized so the masses would be receiving the same “authorized” message. The elites wanted to use a national education system as a way to maintain orderliness, manipulate the labor market, shape career choices of citizens, and keep kids off of the streets.
The implementation of State education in Prussia was quite successful in achieving its stated aims. Soon other nation-states began implementing a similar model. To a large extent, this is the education model we are following today. Yet, it is never questioned how this model came to be. It is never questioned what goals this model is designed to achieve. It is never questioned. Could it be because this is the system in which we are all schooled? We are spoon fed a statist narrative of history, economics, and literature. Essential thinking skills like those that would be taught in a logic course have long since been removed from the curriculum.
This analysis leads to a very radical conclusion: Our whole idea as a society of what education really is radically impoverished.
The conventional historiography of public education is wrong in so many ways. I will leave you with one example, but plenty more can be readily identified with a little research.
The traditional narrative we get is some version of the following: Everyone in the past was ignorant and most people couldn’t read. People sunk into hedonism or expropriation. Luckily, the state stepped in and provided compulsory educational with the goal being “educational enlightenment”. There is no way the population would learn anything if we didn’t have State education.
As it turns out, in Britain during the first half of 19th century, there were varied educational institutions and the system was not uniformed under any kind of State education. It was common to see Dame Schools where old woman in the neighborhood taught elementary education. In 1860, a study on education in Britain showed that 90% of children were enrolled in school of some kind and that 80% had a 14+ year old reading level. Today the average reading level in Britain after 150 year of State education is 10 years old.
The modern school system is an incredibly inefficient way to learn anything important (if that is the goal). The aim of the State education is to take intelligent, independent, inquisitive children and turn them into conforming dullards. In the past it was designed to make for an acquiescent populace and an obedient military. Today it is designed to make for an acquiescent populace and a society of obedient corporate drones. In that respect, State education is a success. It’s no coincidence that the rise of compulsory State education corresponds nicely with the rise in power of modern nation-state.
Command, Control, Indoctrinate!
State education is not a failure, but rather, a great success. I must start by making sure we are clear on terms. By “State education” I am talking about compulsory education mandated and administered by the government (e.g. the public school system in the US). By “success”, I refer to the success that State education has achieved in relation to the purpose and function of the system itself – which ironically is not education.
State education is relatively new to human history. The Prussians were the original advocates of State education and the founders were very clear on what they thought about the purpose of State education. After their embarrassing defeat to Napoleon in 1806, the Prussian elite decided to setup a “model national education system”. They wanted a system that produced “loyal, public spirited citizens” and groomed “obedient, disciplined soldiers”.
With these objectives in mind, the Prussian elite develop the first State education system (what today we consider public education) with the thought that the system should be compulsory, uniform, organized by age groups, and defined by structured time periods, structured desks, set text books and authorized curriculum. The founders of the modern system of education were very explicit about their intentions. They wanted to teach students to follow the rules of institutions and comply with structure. This sounds an awful lot like what we are used to today, but these were very new ideas at the time and vastly different from how education was previously provided.
The ruling elites wanted to groom obedient soldiers. No longer was education used as a means for drawing out the knowledge and potential of individual students. Instead, children were formally manipulated; they were schooled collectively. The structured environment helped achieve this objective. Students were taught to submit, obey, not question authority, and take orders. This was the first time children started wearing uniforms to school. This was the first time students started reciting a national pledge of allegiance in school. This was the first time students were required to attend a school organized by age – so that they would be in the class room with their future brothers in combat.
It should be noted that the elites thought of this system as a way to shape and mold society. The Prussian elites didn’t actually send their own children to the mass education system. They wanted to indoctrinate certain “habits of mind” in the general population. Curriculum and text books were standardized so the masses would be receiving the same “authorized” message. The elites wanted to use a national education system as a way to maintain orderliness, manipulate the labor market, shape career choices of citizens, and keep kids off of the streets.
The implementation of State education in Prussia was quite successful in achieving its stated aims. Soon other nation-states began implementing a similar model. To a large extent, this is the education model we are following today. Yet, it is never questioned how this model came to be. It is never questioned what goals this model is designed to achieve. It is never questioned. Could it be because this is the system in which we are all schooled? We are spoon fed a statist narrative of history, economics, and literature. Essential thinking skills like those that would be taught in a logic course have long since been removed from the curriculum.
This analysis leads to a very radical conclusion: Our whole idea as a society of what education really is radically impoverished.
The conventional historiography of public education is wrong in so many ways. I will leave you with one example, but plenty more can be readily identified with a little research.
The traditional narrative we get is some version of the following: Everyone in the past was ignorant and most people couldn’t read. People sunk into hedonism or expropriation. Luckily, the state stepped in and provided compulsory educational with the goal being “educational enlightenment”. There is no way the population would learn anything if we didn’t have State education.
As it turns out, in Britain during the first half of 19th century, there were varied educational institutions and the system was not uniformed under any kind of State education. It was common to see Dame Schools where old woman in the neighborhood taught elementary education. In 1860, a study on education in Britain showed that 90% of children were enrolled in school of some kind and that 80% had a 14+ year old reading level. Today the average reading level in Britain after 150 year of State education is 10 years old.
The modern school system is an incredibly inefficient way to learn anything important (if that is the goal). The aim of the State education is to take intelligent, independent, inquisitive children and turn them into conforming dullards. In the past it was designed to make for an acquiescent populace and an obedient military. Today it is designed to make for an acquiescent populace and a society of obedient corporate drones. In that respect, State education is a success. It’s no coincidence that the rise of compulsory State education corresponds nicely with the rise in power of modern nation-state.
Command, Control, Indoctrinate!
Student Loan Debt Passes $1 Trillion in Late 2011
Jason shares his thoughts on the student loan bubble and the school system in America in this 9 min podcast from 3/27/12.
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